Continued - Eros, Louisiana and The Founders

     The next event, which was most catastrophic, occurred on the night of April 8, 1920 when a cyclone struck and nearly destroyed everything left in town. Due to the destructive nature of this storm it was a miracle that no one was killed. Much of the town was never rebuilt after this disaster and the glory days of Eros were over. Although the sawmill was rebuilt, the final deathblow struck in 1926 when fire destroyed the mill again. Because of this and the fact that most of the timber in the area had been cut over, it was decided by the company to move their operation to a new location.

     With the loss of its major employer, many residents began to move away to find work elsewhere. Most Eros residents would then have to travel to neighboring cities such as West Monroe, Monroe, or Jonesboro for employment. From that time onward, the town dwindled to the small village it is at present.

     Today, residents of Eros enjoy a quiet hamlet set amongst the rolling hills and pine forest lands of Jackson Parish. Many take advantage of the hunting and fishing in the woods, streams, and lake that are in close proximity.
  
     Among the many landmarks from the prosperous days of Eros is a house built by the Collins family that stood well into the twentieth century. Samuel Collins and his family were educated and enterprising and his nephew, John B. Collins, built a stately Victorian mansion in Eros about 1905. This was one of the Collins family homes. John lived there with his widowed mother Minerva and siblings Emily, Sam, Robert, Rass, Charles, and Gillian. It was a two-story house with a large attic built at a time when lumber was plentiful and John, being an employee of the lumber company, had access to materials and skilled labor. The late Mr. Jack Canady, a longtime resident of Eros, recalls, “It was at one time the outstanding house of this area, a beautiful home when I first remembered it, and for as long as the Collins family owned it, but through the years it went down:.”

     Many parties and social activities were held there. One of the features was the widow’s walk on the roof where one could survey the entire town. Photographs of Eros after the tornado were taken from this vantage point. Remarkably, the Collins large home was one of the very few structures to remain intact after that terrible storm.

     As a child, I was enthralled with the houses majestic and mysterious aura, although I will admit I was also a bit frightened by it as well. At that time the house was in an unkempt condition with the surrounding yard overgrown and wooded. As a result, it brought to my mind the typical haunted house. But even in this condition, I could see its architectural and stately beauty and my appreciation of older houses began.

     Allen Phillips and his wife were the last residents there and they deep grieved the  death of their only child, a daughter. Years later, they became very attached to little Miss Debra Sharp, the daughter of Herschel Sharp, mayor of the town.  She would often stay with the Phillips family. Because of the deteriorated condition of the home, Debra wasn’t allowed on the front porch or in the upstairs rooms. After the death of his wife, Mr. Phillips continued to live there and collected an odd assortment of trash and treasure that filled the old house.
 
     At his death, the Phillips had bequeathed this property to their foster child, Debra Sharp. As a teenager, Debra had no need for the house at the time and sold it. The new owners were intending on restoring the old dilapidated structure to its original grandeur. Around 1970-71, the grand old house burned and an Eros landmark of its boom days passed. Sadly, not even a good photograph can be found of this stately Victorian.

     As time marches on, fewer landmarks of the sawmill days of Eros remain to remind us to its past. Eros founders Samuel Walter Collins and his wife, Mary Nash Collins, are buried nearby in the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery. They should always be remembered for their many civic efforts to make Eros and the surrounding area a better place to live.

Ouachita Parish native Terry Perritt is very interested in historic preservation and genealogy. In 2005, he was appointed to the West Monroe Heritage Preservation Commission. He is employed as a barber/stylist with “A Great Hairdresser” in West Monroe.